How Marketers Are Using Video In 2018

Video marketers continues to be viewed enthusiastically by marketers, with 83% reporting that video content is becoming more important to them, according to the latest “State of Video Marketing” report [download page] from Demand Metric and Vidyard.

As a naturally engaging medium, marketers are also using video content across more than just video platforms such as YouTube (where 67% do so). Channels where the majority are displaying video include websites (85%), social media, landing pages, recorded webinars and email.

The use of video across these diverse formats has also seen some significant growth, with social media up from 77% last year (to 84%), webinars up from 40% (to 55%) and email increasing from 46% (to 55%).

The research for this report is based on a survey of 271 executives, the majority of whom are mostly or entirely B2B (50%) or a mixture of B2B and B2C (21%).

Video Converts Better Than Other Content

Behind this migration to video is the finding that the majority of marketers (59%) believe that video converts better than other forms of content. With previous stats from Vidyard showing that video completion rates are also on the rise, these upbeat figures are likely partly a result of B2B buyers watching more video in their day-to-day activity. Additionally, consumers tend to find video more engaging than other forms of content, and it’s very possible that B2B consumers are alike in that regard.

Marketers responding to the survey appear to have been upping their capabilities, with 43% now using intermediate or advanced metrics to gauge their success, up from 36% last year. These metrics include average viewing duration, embedded location, viewer drop-off rates and marketing attribution.

Few Integrate Their Video Viewing Data

Despite the advanced tactics, there has been a decline in the percentage of marketers reporting that they’re exploiting the data that can come from engagement with video. In 2017, the survey reported that 20% had integrated and were exploiting the data from video viewing within their CRM or marketing automation platforms. This year, the figure is just 6%.

Those who have integrated but not exploited the data remain somewhat static, at 25% in 2017 and 26% in 2018. This means that 32% have in some way integrated video viewing engagement data into their core revenue stack.

Video viewing data can be used to qualify leads for sales, so while it appears somewhat disappointing that marketers have fallen behind, their colleagues in sales have caught up. This year, 14% reported that their says teams were using video viewing data to a great extent, double the proportion (7%) from last year.

While not explored specifically by this study, one area in which video can be adapted to serve ABM is in the use of dynamic creative – a tactic much more often used by top-performing integrators according to McKinsey. But success in this area will be down to more marketers integrating video engagement data.

Other Findings

Other stats from the report follow.

Marketing is far and away the department most likely to be producing video content (82%), with the internal communications teams (23%) trailing distantly.

The majority of marketers (55%) will be increasing their video budgets this year. Just 6% are planning to cut spend.

A similar proportion (51%) are satisfied with the results of their video content, while 43% are neutral and 6% are dissatisfied.

About the data: The report is based on a survey of largely B2B executives conducted in September 2018. 414 responses were collected of which 271 were used in the analysis. Two-thirds (66%) worked for companies with greater than $10 million in sales.